I'm not surprised that a bad taxi caused a team to be eliminated this week. I am surprised that it wasn't the Monster Truck couple that was eliminated. Amy and Daniel have not a thing to be ashamed ot in how they handled the first two legs

Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale were eliminated from The Amazing Race during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 21st season.

The "Dating On and Off Couple" became the second team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's second Pit Stop at the Pasar Pabean Market in Surabaya, Indonesia in last place. The pair got lost for an extensive period of time looking for the Wijaya Motor shop while running the Race's second leg, and during the show's initial leg, unintentionally gave up a first-place finish when they shared vital information with competitors Abbie Ginsberg and Ryan Danz.

In an exclusive interview, Amy and Daniel talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience and early ouster -- including whether they definitely knew they were in last place upon arriving at the Pit Stop in Surabaya, why they got lost and attributed their unfortunate turn of events to fate, what they would've changed about their strategy going forward if they had been afforded the chance to continue racing, and why Amy said she didn't have much control over how fast she could run heading into the Race's first Pit Stop.

Reality TV World: When you guys arrived at the Pit Stop, did you have a pretty good idea you were in last place or were you still thinking there was a chance finish in eighth or ninth place or something?

Daniel Gale: We weren't 100% percent sure that we were last place. You just never know. It's The Amazing Race. Anything can happen, but I think what was in our minds was that we were most hopeful that, if we were in last place, it was a non-elimination round.

Reality TV World: I was just going to ask about that. Amy, you burst into tears right after Phil Keoghan said the words, "You have been eliminated from the Race." So it sounds like then it's safe to say you were hoping for that non-elimination leg? You were hopeful you'd hear those words instead?

Amy Purdy: Yes, we were waiting for that all the way until the next day. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: How far behind Gary Wojnar and Will Chiola do you think you finally got to the Pit Stop?

Amy Purdy: We don't really know to tell you the truth how much time elapsed. Although at one point, we went back to the start -- where the balloons were -- and we saw them there still. So we were hopeful -- we still knew we were in the game at that point.

But we had called information -- not information, but some really nice lady got on the phone and called somebody who was able to look up on the computer the locations. But she gave us a list of locations with the same name, and we went on a goose chase (laughs) looking for the right one. So, I'm not quite sure how much time actually elapsed before we got to the right place.

Reality TV World: Okay so it sounds like you weren't sure how long you got lost for, right?

Amy Purdy: We really don't know, you kind of lose track. We know that -- I mean, we got out of the challenge, the balloon challenge, second. It took a long time for all the teams to finish up there. So we were out, going to all different Wijaya Motor locations that entire time. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: Do you kind of place the blame of getting lost on the long list the local girl gave you then rather than say your taxi driver?

Amy Purdy: Well, to tell you the truth, we really placed the blame on the way the stars aligned for us that day, because everybody contributed and helped out as much as possible.

Daniel Gale: They were giving us legitimate Wijaya locations. They just weren't the right ones.

Amy Purdy: Right.

Daniel Gale: So there's so many places in that town that use the word Wijaya in front of it, and some were actually called Wijaya Motor. And also, you know, the taxi driver -- there's not computers readily available. There's not smartphones.

There's just not that type of thing, and if you saw Amy ask a lady to call information, and she was unable to -- she actually couldn't even -- she said that [information] in Indonesia... doesn't even exist. So, you know, it's just one of those things. It really was the stars for us.

Reality TV World: You two chose to take on the "Ice by the Pound" Detour task instead of the fish one. Do you think you ended up making the right choice there? After watching last night's episode and seeing Natalie and Nadiya's success with the fish task, do you think you would've been better off doing that one instead?

Amy Purdy: Well you know, I have a horrible shellfish allergy. (Laughs) So...

Reality TV World: So that pretty much sums it up right there! (Laughs)

Amy Purdy: Exactly.

Reality TV World: Do you have any idea how long it took you to complete that "Ice by the Pound" Detour task?

Amy Purdy: We breezed through it! We were in and out of there within minutes. So, you know, of course that made it even more frustrating. Because once we got to the right location, we got to the Pit Stop in record time.

Reality TV World: It also seemed like you guys flew through the animal balloon-making Roadblock task. Was that accurate, and Amy, how did it compare to eating frog tubes in the prior leg of the Race?

Amy Purdy: I know! I don't know which one was easier. (Laughs) But I can say that I was proud of myself for how quickly I just kind of jumped in and got the job completed. I had never made animal balloons before and it was a little jaunting the first couple minutes, because there was a guy who was doing a demonstration that we were allowed to watch.

But he would do it so fast, you couldn't tell how he did it. And so, my first thought was, "Oh gosh, we may be here for awhile." But then I kind of slowed my thinking down and just counted the amount of twists he was doing and the different directions he was going in, and I came up with a system. Once I came up with that system, I was able to kind of bust them out pretty quickly.

Reality TV World: There were obviously two errors you two made in your Race. The first was how you told Abbie and Ryan where the woman with the abacus was during the first leg and then they finished the leg first instead of you guys thanks to your help. The second was the amount of time you got lost when trying to find the motor shop. Looking back, which moment would you say was worse even though getting lost clearly caused your elimination?

Daniel Gale: I don't know if we would call either of them an error. I think we're proud of our decision to tell them where the thing was in a way, because it just shows what kind of people we are and that we're giving. We run an organization that gives back.

We're highly competitive and when that happened, it kind of gave us a knock in the head, and we set out in the next leg to be more conscious and race really, really hard -- which we did. And just because the stars didn't align for us on the second leg, you know, it wasn't necessarily an error. But certainly, that's the most heartbreaking piece of the story, because it took us out of the Race.

Amy Purdy: Yeah.

Reality TV World: Could you talk a little more about why exactly you helped two other teams find the woman with the abacus in the first leg? Besides the fact it obviously showed the type of people you are and you felt you did the right thing -- like you just mentioned -- did you think you were that much ahead of them and they wouldn't be able to catch up to you at the Pit Stop?

Amy Purdy: Well actually, for one thing, because we're snowboard racers, we're extremely competitive kind of in short spurts. When you're going on days and hours, there's moments when your guard is going to be down. It definitely happened to catch us at a time when our guard was down.

But to tell you the truth, yeah, we knew that we were -- well first of all, we didn't know we were in first place. But we knew that our next stop was the Pit Stop. We basically gave them a general direction, thinking they still had to run through a market and find the correct location. And we did think that we were further ahead of them at that point that we would make it to the Pit Stop first.

But we also didn't realize until probably two seconds after that moment happened just how far the Pit Stop was. So, we had to run, I mean gosh, a mile-and-a-half or two miles, just as a sprint. Because I've got prosthetic legs, I made a choice -- a conscious choice -- not to bring my running legs on the Race, because running legs, you can only run in them.

You can't walk up and down stairs, you can't run on gravel, you can't run on the ice. They would've been a lot more to carry in our packs. So, I chose to have legs that were all-around athletic legs, that I could also run in.

But they -- I'm only good for about a fourth-a-mile before my actually feet, my prosthetic feet, start to lose spring and energy. So once we realized we had another mile-and-a-half, two miles, to run, we realized, "We're probably not going to make it to the Pit Stop first now."

Reality TV World: Oh wow, so just to clarify, it sounds like you think you made the right decision in helping the team who beat you in the first leg, but at the same time, you kind of clicked into competitive mode afterwards. So do you regret that initial decision to help Abbie and Ryan or do you stand by it?

Amy Purdy: To tell you the truth, no, we don't regret it. Because honestly, the next day, that decision forced us to make some changes and to go in even more competitive that next day. So, you know, it takes just learning from these little quirks that happen to make you stronger and it certainly did.

Reality TV World: If you guys had lasted in the Race, down the road, do you think you would've helped teams again if they needed you or would you have tried to avoid doing that?

Daniel Gale: It would've been something we would've tried to avoid and it would've been something where we were more prepared for it. If someone asks you, you don't say, "No, I don't know where it is" if you do. For us, we'd probably say something like, "You know, this is a race and a game. And I'm sorry, we can't help you guys right now, but we're racing too." It's something that we don't regret.

Amy Purdy: You honestly don't know how you're going to react until you're in that situation, and I've been saying... Just how I feel is, you have strategy going in. When you watch the show, you have ideas of what you're going to do that's going to help you win.

And when you're actually in the moment and you're flying by the seat of your pants, it's true your strategy kind of goes out the window and your true instincts kick in. And that really was our natural instinct in that moment. And now that we're aware of that with ourselves, certainly, we'd be a lot more prepared if that situation came up again.

Above is the first half of Amy and Daniel's interview. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.

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"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

Amy & Daniel on Their Shocking 'Race' EliminationBy LISA HIRSCH October 08, 2012In an Amazing Race shocker, power couple Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale from Summit County, Colorado, were eliminated in only the second leg of the race. Despite Amy's double-amputee status, the pair had quickly set themselves apart as a team to beat in the first episode, but were ultimately taken down by a commonly named auto shop and a string of hapless cab drivers. ETonline talks with the pair to get their take on their elimination and to find out if this "on-again, off-again couple" is together or apart.

ETOnline: I expected you to go to the end, were you as shocked as we viewers were when you were eliminated?

Daniel: I think we were, and you could tell from our reaction when we made it to the mat. We had our fingers and toes crossed that we were going to be in a non-elimination round, and we were doing so well, we were really ahead of the pack quite a bit, and we were definitely heartbroken.

ETOnline: About the taxi driver and getting lost, how long were you lost for?

Amy: We don't really know, but it was for a long time, I mean that entire time. 'Cause we got out of the balloons second, and it took hours for some people to finish the balloons, and we were still running around, trying to find the correct location. [Plus], there were multiple locations that had the same name so, yeah, we went around for quite some time.

Daniel: Hours.

ETOnline: I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been.

Amy: Yeah, it was. At first we were just like so amped up and we kept thinking each location we were going to was going to be the one, and when we would get out, there's multiple Wijaya Motors, that whole area, almost every business has the name Wijaya in it. So if the cab driver doesn't know the exact location, he's just gonna take you to all the locations that he knows, and ... so at first we were so amped up and we kept thinking, 'Okay we found it.' And then it would be not the right place and at one point we were kind of just like, 'Oh my gosh! This is serious. This place exists and we have no idea which direction to go in.'

Daniel: And at some point, you just have to realize that the resources there are really, really limited, they don't even have radios in the taxi cab to call a dispatch, they don't have smart phones. You could see from the show we got out and tried to ask somebody call information for us and she said, 'We don't have [it]! You're in Indonesia, there's no information.' So you have to try and have some faith in the taxi cab [drivers], that they do know where they're going, you know, that they can learn where to take you, and the stars just weren't aligned for us that day.

Amy: Yeah, and we switched cabs quite a few times thinking each cab driver would know where it's at, and the problem, like I said, is there's multiple businesses named the same thing so every cab driver would take us to a Wijaya Motors that just happened to be the wrong Wijaya Motors.

ETOnline: How frustrating was it for you that in The Amazing Race, you could be the most physically fit, but luck is such a huge part of the game? How did you guys feel about that?

Amy: Going into the race, we were huge fans, so we've watched all the episodes, and I mean obviously we went on the show knowing that we can win the race ... so we went in thinking it's like 85 percent skill, with a little bit of luck thrown in there, and we walked out realizing that luck plays a lot bigger of a role than skill necessarily. Because, I mean you just don't know what's going to happen, [and] the getting from point A to point B is totally not a controlled environment at all.

Daniel: I think that what makes The Amazing Race so special is ... because it's not a controlled environment, ... people are on the edge of their seat because of that. It legitimately gives people emotions when you're watching it, and I think ... that's what makes the race so special.

Amy: Right, yeah it's not easy to just size up a team and say, 'Oh, they're athletic, so they're going to win the race,' when you know, you have to get on planes and trains and you trust [that luck will be on your side]. It is a huge equalizer and it is what makes the race really ... exciting. You have no idea who's going to make it.

ETOnline: At home we can't really see how close the finishes are. Were you guys really close behind the previous team, or were there hours separating you when you got to the mat?

Daniel: I think we were very close. I think within minutes but we're not sure.

Amy: Yeah, we're not sure the exact [timing]. Those guys, they're great, we love the teachers, they were in the balloon challenge for quite some time. We had gone back to the start, and still saw them there. So at one point we thought, 'Okay, we know we're not last here,' and we kind of got in another cab, and tried to figure some more stuff out, but then it went on long enough that we realized, okay, that this is going on way too long.

ETOnline: What country were you hoping to visit that you didn't get a chance to?

Daniel: There are so many.

Amy: I know, we would've loved to go to Japan, but gosh that would've been another massive language barrier. I was hoping to actually go to countries I'd already been [to since] you kind of get an idea of how things run, so you would think you'd have an advantage if you go to countries you've been to before. But, it was so cool for our first stop to go to Shanghai. I just don't know if I'll ever go to Shanghai again -- it was just incredible.

Daniel: I know, I couldn't help but to stop and take a look at the skyline, I think that was even in the show, which was that first episode as soon as we walked over onto the Bund. I was like, 'Oh my lord, I've never seen anything like that.' It was incredible.

Amy: Yeah, even though you're in the places so quickly, we really tried to take in where we were at.

ETOnline: On the show they described you as an on-again off-again couple. What is the current status of your relationship?

Daniel: We are very much on, and we are a happy couple, and we're excited for the future in our continuing adventures together. We run a non-profit called Adaptive Action Sports together that gets people with disabilities into action sports -- youth, veterans and young adults -- and we're very much on, and we're living happily in Frisco, Colorado. Amy's training for the Paralympics to make the U.S. National Team to go to Paralympics for adaptive snowboarding in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. That's our next adventure, and we're a happy couple in Frisco.

ETOnline: Great! Which team do you think is gonna win?

Daniel: We just appreciated the opportunity to run against all of the teams, and we got to know them and make some great friends, and some were very competitive that was great to give us more fire and some are fantastic people. They're all just wonderful teams and we're rooting for everyone.

Amy: Yeah we're rooting for everyone, you just realize it's anybody's game. Whoever's strategies or just personal talents get them through. So I think that there's a handful of teams that we would love to see win.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

I never thought such a strong team will get eliminated this early in the race. I think TAR should be glad Ryan and Abbie won the first leg, otherwise how anti climax would it be if the team who won the first leg gets eliminated next and then the whole 2 million deal happened for like..... 1 week. (2eps on TAR)

They're still so classy even when eliminated. Blaming it but nobody but luck! <3

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"The Amazing Race shows the best and worst out of you. But if only negative things are shown, then it's probably you. - Jobby"

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

Interesting yet very inspiring story... I love her to be back for all-star season

Fembots Have Feelings Too: An Interview with Amy Purdy

By Brian Merchant

When Amy Purdy was 19 years old, she contracted a strain of bacterial meningitis. The illness almost ended her life. Before she finally beat it back, her kidneys had failed, it had claimed her spleen, and both of her legs had to be amputated below the knees.

But instead of spiraling into what would have been the most justifiable abyss of self-pity ever, Purdy opted for another tack. That devastating blow to her body would instead be a mere momentary setback, she decided; a unique opportunity, even. Hell if she was going to find a way to do stuff as well as everybody else—she was going to do it better.

She began working closely with a prosthetics manufacturer to design legs and feet that would enable her not just to walk again, but to run, snowboard, and, yeah, model. So she did. She now counts pro snowboarding medals, an appearance on ‘the Amazing Race,’ a viral TED talk, a fashion shoot with Nikki Sixx, and founding the nonprofit Adaptive Action Sports on her ever-lengthening list of achievements. She is 33.

And she knows as well as anyone that she’s not “normal.” She is not bashful about the fact that advanced prosthetic limbs propel her through civil society, and she does not need your pitying glances or cooed ‘awws’. Because she is a cyborg, and she knows it. Or better yet, call her a fembot. She does. Her blog, after all, is called Through the Eyes of a Fembot.

I caught up with Purdy at this year’s PopTech conference, where she delivered another standing ovation-garnering performance. We talked about the fembot’s life in modern America, owning bionic body parts, and embracing an altered, even enhanced, existence.

Motherboard: So you’re a fembot. You own it. What does the term mean to you—what’s your relationship to the idea?

Amy Purdy: I think it’s just having fun with your situation, and realizing it doesn’t have to be a disability or a disadvantage. Robots have universally been considered cool. And I can’t help that I look part robot myself. And that kind of sparked a cool instinct to me. The kids in the neighborhood would call me a robot, and I would think—that’s amazing.

I think what sparked the fembot thing – this is the first time that anyone asked me this – I think it was this little girl Amy I worked with. I called her mini-me because she has two prosthetic legs like me, and she really struggled with being made fun of at school. And she asked me, what do you do when people call you a robot? And I said, “Well, aren’t robots cool?” So I think that for me it was a desire to embrace this, and kind of share it in a different way. Instead of seeing it as a kind of handicap.

Totally. Certainly, from where I’m sitting, we’re at a point where those enhancements are beyond accepted, it’s embraced—it is cool. I was watching your talk, and I was like, wow—your legs look awesome. It’s …

[laughs] Like an accessory. It’s interesting because I kind of felt that way in the beginning. I went through the tragic response to losing my legs, but at the same time I felt like the same person. But I also couldn’t help to think this is kind of cool. I can still do what I love to do, but I have to do things differently. But the fact that I’m doing it with metal legs is kind of cool.

And I felt that inside, but I had no idea how to express that. And it wasn’t until I found adaptable sports that I started seeing this community of athletes doing the same thing. And we found people who were really cool. Like musicians with prosthetic legs. They were like, ‘we didn’t know where to go to find people like me.’ But now the community is flourishing because we are open with our bionic body parts.

It already feels normalized, when you’re up there talking on the stage. Do you feel a responsibility to be a spokesperson for the cause?

It’s not anything I would have ever known, or would have wanted to be an advocate for. This was the first time I talked about being a fembot, and hearing the response to that. This was the first time I called out the elephant in the room.

And people weren’t caught on ‘well, how does she walk?’ or those questions. I kind of realized, when I was doing the talk, that this was good for just anyone. Especially for young girls who grew up not embracing their differences and thought they had to be like everybody else. And I thought this doesn’t just effect people with just physical challenges—it’s helpful for anyone.

What’s your relationship with the robotics involved in your legs? Are you involved in improving the technology?

Yeah. I have a sponsor who makes my legs. Then I have a sponsor who makes the feet. So I work very closely with the foot manufacturer with developing new projects and testing out different feet. I’m very involved with the feet that are out there. But the thing that I find interesting is that, personally, I don’t think there needs to be any more development in the feet. But I guess it depends on the market. For example, here you have [amputee X-Games champion] Mike Schultz who developed his own leg for motocross because it’s not like any that are mass produced. And same for me—I made my own feet for snowboarding because there were no feet on the market that could help me snowboard.

So how did you do that?

Well, I should rephrase that, because it’s not like I sat in garage, like Mike did, and made my own feet. But I went to the prosthetist and told him what movement I needed to have and that there weren’t any feet on the market that were working for me.

So we kind of worked together and took random parts from different feet and put them together. And we took those parts and some wood and they worked perfectly. I still have to adapt; I don’t have a shock system, and they still need to be improved, but it’s kind of amazing how well I can snowboard with these Frankensteined feet. So within specialized sports we need to develop our special feet to work in the way we do. But on the other hand, when it comes to day-to-day legs, the technology is already there. As far as walking and running and doing all the sports I love to do, I usually have the feet that support that. And they really are at a very high level.

Do you still meet people that are surprised by how well the technology works?

Well, some people assume and automatically will say: the fact that you can snowboard in prosthetic legs must mean you're in some badass prosthetic legs: it must be the legs. And then little do they know, I’m actually snowboarding in wooded feet with rusted bolts and duct tape, and it’s actually as low tech as it can get.

So with the whole Oscar Pistorius Olympic thing right now, people assume that his prosthetic feet are what’s making him the top notch athlete he is. But I guarantee you can put him in wooden legs and Oscar would still be breaking records. So that’s why I say it’s not just the technology that moves us forward—although it helps—it’s the user of the technology that moves forward.

We are more advanced than our prosthetics. But then there’s the other side, where people are fascinated by what the prosthetic industry has done, and what we are capable of doing with them.

Right. So what is your relationship to the robotics in the leg? On a day to day how do you regard them?

I mean, they are my legs, and that’s what I wanted off the bat. I think, being a massage therapist [oh yeah, she’s also a massage therapist; did I not mention that? –ed.], I’m very aware of my body. I knew right away that if I’m mentally accepting of my legs, I would be able to physically accept them.

I started doing yoga and Pilates right away so I could really connect with my legs. I didn’t want them to be a burden; I wanted them to be my legs. Because I didn’t want to be like, “I have to put on my legs every morning.” Because that’s how It felt at first.

Because I can’t just get out of bed, I have to put my legs on. And that drove me kind of crazy, to know I was just relying on them to do normal stuff. So I just wanted to shut that voice up as quickly as possible, and I did every activity possible that connected me to my legs. And now—there, it’s interesting, unless I’m talking about it, it doesn't seem strange to me. I wake up and I put my legs on, and I do my routine and it’s not until I really talk about it that I realize, ‘holy crap I have prosthetic legs.’ Really, that’s crazy.

What do you see yourself doing in the future. Are there any boundaries that you still want to push ?

Sure, all sorts of stuff. For one, I’m training for the prosthetic snowboard team. So yes I want to train for the 2014 Paralympic Games, and beyond that, it’s continuing to grow the organization and also work in a handful of causes and I’m just so touched by so many causes. I know that once you do work in one sector where you’re helping you can’t help but want to do that forever.

To spread the fembot gospel.

I just wanted to throw it out there. I wanted to show that, on a daily basis, I do have fun with it. You have to have fun with yourself.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

The snowboarder team in season 20, Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin, were on the U.S. Olympic Team (2006 and 2002, respectively); but I believe Amy is the only former Racer to compete in the Paralympic Games.

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

VOTE for AMY PURDY on Dancing With the Stars!! She was AWESOME!! You have one hour to call 1-800-868-3410 and vote!! So proud of you Amy!!

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"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan